


Future pasts

by AndromedaSmith



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/M, KaraMel, Missing Scene, Season 5 - canon divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:20:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23599012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndromedaSmith/pseuds/AndromedaSmith
Summary: Can you call it a second chance if you’re not sure if the first one happened?
Relationships: Alex Danvers & Kara Danvers, Imra Ardeen & Mon-El, Imra Ardeen & Winn Schott Jr., Kara Danvers & Winn Schott Jr., Kara Danvers/Mon-El, Mon-El & Winn Schott Jr., Winn Schott Jr/Ayla Ranzz
Comments: 47
Kudos: 67





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During Winn’s return from the future, the elephant in the room gets a little less invisible.

“She hasn’t asked about Mon-El. He’s fine, by the way.” 

Winn leaned close and muttered in Alex’s ear as she rummaged in Kara’s fridge for the club soda.

“Thanks, that’s good to hear. She doesn’t say much, but I’m pretty sure he’s still on her mind. She’s been… kind of closed-off since you both left.”

Alex glanced at Kara, who could certainly overhear their muttered conversation if she wanted to. But Kara’s attention seemed to be focused on setting up the next game and explaining the rules to William.

“Have you told her .. how things changed with them?” Winn asked.

“No,” Alex replied. “What would be the point? She’s still dealing with this whole Lena thing, and then the crisis aftermath… and it’s not as though it’s more likely he’ll come back, right?”

Laughter erupted from the direction of the game table. Kelly and William were cracking up at something Kara had said. J’onn hadn’t joined in the hilarity. He was gazing thoughtfully back at Winn and Alex.

“Talk to J’onn about this before you go, okay? And maybe talk to Kara, too. She could use some encouragement to open up and I know she’ll listen to you.”

“I will,” Winn nodded. 

* * *

“I’m still trying to get my head around the changes,” Winn said. He spun his beer bottle on the bar table; J’onn grabbed it before it could go over the edge.

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” J’onn responded. “Is that what you and Alex were talking about at Kara’s?”

“Yeah. Mostly whether to tell Kara about her and Mon-El. She hasn’t asked about him, so we’re thinking no. But what about telling him?”

J’onn got a faraway look in his eyes. “I told Alex that restoring everyone’s memories would reconfigure relationships on a massive scale, and it would be dangerous. Kara and Mon-El had their relationship reconfigured quite a few times already. He gave up being with her to go to the future: what would telling him accomplish?”

“I know, I know. But now I remember Mon-El telling me, when they were on Argo, that he couldn’t lose Kara again. It feels like not telling him about the changes is letting them do just that,” Winn argued.

“Before you left, I told him that telling Kara how he felt about her would be selfish,” J’onn said. He stroked his chin absently. “But I was wrong about that. You’ve gained wisdom in the future, Winn. I know you’ll make the right call when you go back. Right now, I think Kara deserves some happiness in the present.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Winn said. They clinked their bottles together. 

“Drink to what?” Kara asked as she and Alex returned to the table.

“Finding happiness, in the present and in the future,” Winn replied.

Kara’s smile could still light up any room. “Cheers!” She raised her glass. Alex, J’onn, and Winn glanced at each other and toasted.

* * *

Winn hugged Kara and climbed the stairs to the Tower balcony. He waved and smiled at his friends, leaving one family to return to his wife, daughter, and the rest of his Legion family. Kara and Mon-El were at the hearts of those two families. What was the right thing to do for _their_ hearts?

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These scenes take place during 5x11 and 5x12.


	2. Anti-histories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Winn’s return to the future, many conversations ensue.

“We were _married_?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And Mon-El was still in love with _Kara_?”

“You got it.”

“I think you’d better start again, _from the beginning_ ,” Imra sighed.

Winn paced the small room at headquarters. He’d made only a quick stop at home to see Ayla and Mary before heading to find the Legion’s co-leader. 

He took a deep breath. “Every universe in the multiverse was destroyed, and the Paragons defeated the Anti-Monitor, and our universe got merged with others, and... a lot of history changed.”

“My memories of the old universe showed that Mon-El landed on Earth in the twenty-first century, fell in love with Kara, and came here through a disruption after escaping the atmosphere being seeded with lead to repel a Daxamite invasion.”

Winn inhaled and moved to look out the window.

“He spent a couple of years trying to get back there, then you and he had to get married to prevent a war between Earth and Titan and eventually you went back in time to try and stop Pestilence. We ended up defeating Reign, then you and Mon-El broke up, we left Brainy there and came back here with Mon-El to fight Brainiac.”

Imra’s normally stoic demeanour cracked a bit. “This is a lot to take in.”

“I know. And I haven’t even told you about Lex Luthor. Made me puke.”

“What? Never mind. Why doesn’t everyone know?”

“J’onn said that it wasn’t a good idea. Restoring everyone’s memories could make everyone go crazy.”

“So why are you telling me?”

“I need your help figuring out what to tell Mon-El.”

“Winn, you want me to help you figure out how to tell my Legion partner that he doesn’t remember the love of his life, and that apparently _wasn’t his wife, who was me_?”

“When you put it like that, it doesn’t sound so great,” Winn agreed. “I mean, Kara doesn’t even know that he wouldn’t remember being with her. She’s gone through losing him — twice! — and J’onn and Alex thought that learning that the past changed might be as bad as losing him again.”

“But...” Imra prompted, somewhat impatiently. She tossed light hair back from her eyes.

“But they were really happy before he had to leave the first time and I think they deserve to get that back somehow. He’s never really had a serious relationship here; he’s sacrificed a lot for the Legion and so many others. They both have.” 

Imra sighed again and moved to stand beside Winn at the window.

“Are you sure these memories you recovered are real?” she asked.

“Are you doubting the Paragon of Honor? Besides, you could see for yourself,” Winn replied. 

“I trust you and J’onn,” she responded, “but now I’m curious. If you don’t mind?”

Winn turned to face Imra so she could make eye contact. It wasn’t strictly necessary for her telepathy to work, but it felt a little less strange than having someone read your mind through the back of your head. He felt the slight buzzing in his skull that he associated with Imra’s powers. The buzzing stopped as she broke contact.

“Wow,” Imra breathed.

“I told you. So are you going to tell Garth that you were married to Mon-El?”

Imra shot a death stare at him.

“Let’s deal with one relationship at a time, shall we? Don’t say anything to Mon-El for now while I think about this.”

* * *

The next day, Imra and Mon-El were finishing debriefing Phantom Girl on her latest mission. The mission hadn’t gone particularly well and both of them struggled to give feedback that wasn’t just a list of her mistakes.

“I can’t believe I let Brainiac trick me like that!” Tinya exclaimed.

“Hey, lots of people would have missed that. You got some useful intel and you’re back here and safe,” Mon-El reassured her.

“Thanks,” she mumbled.

Imra put a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Go and get some rest.” She turned to Mon-El. “Do you have a minute?”

Mon-El stood up from where he and Imra had been listening to Tinya’s painful description of her mission, stretching tight shoulders. He gestured to his Legion co-leader to go ahead of him through the conference room door into the hallway.

“Sure,” he said. “Is this about the training schedule? I know I’m behind on getting that nailed down.”

“No, I know you’ll get to that. I was going to ask if you’d talked to Winn since he got back,” Imra replied.

“Just for a few minutes. He was pretty excited about meeting Nura’s great-great-whatever ancestor and was in a hurry to tell her about it.”

“Did he tell you about .. any changes?” Imra asked diffidently. They reached the wide doorway to the balcony and strolled outside.

“Grife, did something happen to the timeline? He should have told us right away!” Mon-El exclaimed.

“No, no, that’s not what I meant. I just wondered if he’d said anything about how Brainy had changed in the time he’s been away. Or your other friends in the twenty-first century… J’onn, Kara…” Imra’s voice trailed off as she looked up at the sky.

Mon-El’s brow furrowed as he looked at her. “He didn’t say anything about them. I told you, he really was in a hurry.” He paused. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“No, I just worry about you. You’ve left everyone you know more than once, and Winn going back.. seems like that could make it harder.”

“I have a family here now. You, Winn, the rest of the Legion..” Mon-El didn’t sound completely convinced, even to himself.

“We’re here for you,” Imra gently squeezed Mon-El’s arm as she briefly looked into his eyes.

“Thanks. Back to work? That training schedule’s not going to make itself,” he chuckled and turned to go back inside.

Imra followed him, a pensive expression on her face.

* * *

The next few days left Winn and Imra with little time to think about Mon-El. Between a diplomatic incident with New Daxam and a Legion computer that had decided it only wanted to play chess, both were rushed off their feet. After things had calmed down, they lingered in the conference room following a senior staff meeting. They watched Mon-El leave the room chatting with Garth.

“So?” Winn queried.

“He still feels something for Kara. Even though in his memories they were never together.”

“He told you that?” Winn began to shout, then lowered his voice.

“I...might have had a quick look,” Imra mumbled, looking down at her hands.

Winn stared at her, incredulous. “I can’t believe you did that!” he hissed. “What about your ethical code, privacy, all of that?”

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have done it. I shouldn’t have had to. I mean, I’ve known him for nearly ten years, led the Legion with him for most of that. I should know what’s going on with him.” 

“Mon-El keeps a lot to himself. When he first arrived on Earth, he never really talked about losing his home planet. Even after he finally felt comfortable enough to tell us who he was there.”

“You’re right. He didn’t say much about what it meant to leave the twenty-first century, either time,” Imra agreed.

Winn leaned forward in his chair to close the distance between them. “So…” he began, “I think he deserves to know.” 

“So he can do what, exactly? Relive an infatuation he had a decade ago? With someone who’s a millennium away?” Imra demanded. “How is that not going to make him miserable?”

“A decade isn’t that long for them. And it hasn’t even been that long for Kara,” Winn objected.

“What if he did go back? Would he really want to re-open that wound for her?” Imra responded.

“Imra, I know you can read his mind, but you can’t predict what he’ll do. And it’s not up to you to decide what’s best for him.”

She stood up, her face stony. “Isn’t that what you’re trying to do? Winn, I don’t want to pull rank here, but I have known Mon-El longer than you. And as co-leader I have to look out for him. I’m asking you not to do anything quickly. There’s no hurry.”

“Okay, okay,” Winn conceded. “I’ll keep quiet. For now. But we’re not done with this.” He brushed past Imra on his way out of the room.

* * *

That evening, while Winn and Ayla made dinner, Mon-El entertained Mary with tales of Daxamite dragons. The little girl squealed with delight when he picked her up and flew her around the room, play-by-playing a Garata game. Her shrieks were so piercing that Ayla eventually asked Uncle Mon-El to quiet things down “or you’re in charge of getting her to sleep.”

Mon-El made a horrified face — to yet more giggles from Mary — but acquiesced and brought the game to an end. He sat with Mary in his lap and borrowed one of Mary’s soft toys (which bore absolutely no resemblance to a dragon) to demonstrate the proper grooming of one’s Garata mount. Before long, his low voice and the rhythmic petting had so calmed the little one that she was yawning and leaning back into Mon-El’s chest with her eyes glazing over.

Winn came over to stand in front of the two of them, the pride and joy evident on his face as he gazed at Mary. He scooped her up from Mon-El’s lap; his daughter nestled into his arms as he carried her off to bed.

Mon-El stood and moved over to help Ayla finish the dinner preparations. “You must be relieved that the whole business with the time cops is over with.”

“You have no idea,” she agreed. “Luckily Mary’s used to us being gone on missions and she’s too little to understand what’s going on. But this one.. it was different, somehow. I started thinking about how I might have to tell her daddy wasn’t coming home.” Ayla looked down at the sauce she was stirring.

“Did he tell you much about what happened?” Mon-El asked, reaching for the bowl of pasta that Ayla handed to him.

“Mostly that he came to terms with his family history,” Ayla glanced at Mon-El and saw a brief flash of pain cross his face, “and that he wanted to reclaim it. So, ‘Toyman’.” She gestured at a bottle of wine and a plate of bread, indicating that Mon-El should put them on the table.

Mon-El carried the items across the room. “All I got was that he was super-excited to tell Nura Nal that he met her distant ancestor. Who, apparently, had been dating Brainy,” he grinned over his shoulder.

“Brainy? Wow.”

“Brainy what?” Winn asked, returning from Mary’s bedroom. “She’s out like a light, by the way. Thanks, uncle,” he said to Mon-El.

“I was telling Ayla that you told me that Brainy had been dating Nura’s great-whatever-grandmother,” Mon-El explained.

Winn carried three plates over to the table. “Yeah. He’s gone through a lot of changes since you last saw him,” he said.

Ayla and Mon-El brought the remaining dishes from the kitchen and sat down with Winn.

“Not just Brainy, I’d guess,” Mon-El said. “What was it like, being back there? How is everyone?” he asked, pouring wine for Ayla.

“You know what it’s like to go back — well, okay, circumstances weren’t exactly the same — “ Winn said, forestalling Mon-El’s disagreement, “but yeah, a lot more changes than you saw.” He spooned sauce on his pasta. “J’onn left the DEO just after we came here, then Alex was director but she quit right before I got there, so Brainy took over. The usual stuff: rogue aliens, government conspiracies, my father reaching out from beyond the grave. You know...” he trailed off.

“Yeah. I’m glad you got that closure, with your dad,” Mon-El said.

“Me too,” Winn replied. Ayla reached over and squeezed his hand; they caught each other’s eyes and smiled.

“And Kara? How is she?” Mon-El asked.

“She’s Kara: saving the world, fighting bad guys, looking after everyone other than herself. Revealing her identity to Lena Luthor did not go well and it seems like she’s having a hard time opening up to people after that,” Winn said.

Mon-El looked down at his plate. “Can’t say I’m surprised. I hope she figures it out.” Winn examined his friend’s face, trying to decipher the expression.

The conversation shifted to other topics: Mary’s latest antics, Legion goings-on, the minutiae of everyday thirty-first century superhero life. The bottle of wine slowly emptied as all three enjoyed a rare moment of relaxation. Eventually, dessert was eaten, dishes were cleared, and Ayla stood up and yawned.

Mon-El chuckled. “I guess that’s my cue. Thanks, both of you. This was nice.” He rose, looking at the large windows that resembled the ones in Kara’s loft, and headed for the door.

Winn pushed back from the table. “I need some air - want some company for the walk home?” he offered.

“Sure. But no flying back. Red wine and flying don’t mix, at least for you,” Mon-El teased.

“Yes, boss,” Winn laughed. “C’mon. See you in a bit, Ayla.”

The two men walked through the darkened streets of National City, as Winn relayed more details of his visit to the past. Finally, Mon-El stopped and turned to face his friend.

“Winn. I may not be Imra, but I know there’s something you’re not telling me about this. Come to think of it, she was acting kind of weird about this too.”

“She made me promise not to tell you.”

“Winn.” 

“She’ll kill me!”

“Let me deal with Imra. Spill.” Mon-El’s voice combined the Legion leader’s tone of command with a little of the charm wielded by a long-ago ‘playboy prince’. He stared his friend down.

Winn related the story of Crisis: the multiverse, the Paragons, the Anti-Monitor. Mon-El listened without comment, his face only showing the barest hint of what had to be astonishment. Winn finished, “.. so that’s why Brainy became DEO director.”

They started walking again. “That’s quite a story. I get why we don’t remember anything differently,” Mon-El said quietly.

“Yeah,” Winn replied. “No timeline fixes for this.”

“Now, what is it you’re really not telling me?”

“Mon-El..” 

“Winn,” Mon-El almost growled.

“It’s Kara. In the old version of the universe.. the two of you were together. Then you had to leave, and when you came here, you had to marry Imra to keep the peace between Earth and Titan. When you went back to the twenty-first century, Kara was still in love with you, and you weren’t over her despite being married. The two of you seemed to be coming to some kind of peace before we left. I don’t think she’s completely moved on,” Winn finished.

“Whoa,” Mon-El shook his head slower. “Does she know.. how things changed? That I don’t remember being with her?” Mon-El asked, his voice low.

“No. At least, not when I left.”

“I… think I’ll go the rest of the way on my own,” Mon-El said softly. “Thanks, Winn.”

Mon-El turned and walked quickly away. His friend stared after him in the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The changes in history resulted in Imra being a little more like the comics Saturn Girl.


	3. Timelines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mon-El struggles with the revelation that he and Kara had a different past. Even the past he remembers isn’t quite what it seemed.

“How’s your leg?” Kara asked.

“Better, thanks.” Mon-El settled onto the narrow DEO cot, wincing only a bit.

“That’s good. If you’re sure you’re okay, I should go and let you rest.” She moved to leave.

He took a deep breath. _Any courage I do have.._

“Kara, wait. When we were in those cells...there’s something I didn’t get to tell you. About Daxam.”

Kara turned back, confusion on her face.

“I wasn’t saved by the prince. I _was_ the prince. Am the prince,” he mumbled.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she looked at him to confirm what she’d heard.

He nodded. “The worst of the worst. Frat boy of the universe,” he repeated her words, grinning slightly in an attempt to defuse the tension.

It didn’t work. Her eyes began to narrow in anger.

“Why did you lie?” 

“I could tell you it was years of training: when you’re royalty and you’re captured, you don’t say who you are.”

She was silent, her mouth compressing into a hard line.

“But even if it wasn’t for that.. I guess I just wanted a fresh start.”

“And you thought that was a good reason to lie about who you were? Who you are?”

“Obviously you don’t. But knowing that I’d heard your opinion of Daxam, can you blame me?”

“Yes. How can I trust someone who didn’t tell me who he really was?”

Kara stormed out of the room.

* * *

A decade later and he could remember every word. Mon-El ran that conversation over and over in his head as he tossed and turned. 

He played back the memory of waking from his Medusa-virus coma to see her standing across the room, concern on her face. _She was so beautiful_. When he looked at her, something started to pull at his gut. It didn’t take him long to realize that he was falling for her.

Of course, Kara eventually forgave him for lying about his identity and agreed to train him when he decided that he wanted to be a hero. Although they developed a deep friendship and he sometimes wondered if she, too, wanted more, he never told her that he was in love with her. His feelings for Kara were his Kryptonite. As he learned to care for others following her example, he couldn’t justify risking their friendship and hurting her by telling her how he really felt. 

Eventually, just like with his identity, keeping his feelings for Kara secret seemed easier than telling and explaining why it had taken so long. He came to regret that choice when he had to leave Earth — but there was no time to change his mind.

Seven years passed before he saw her again. He was different: more serious, more cautious, shoulders both strengthened and bowed by the weight of leadership. Even though less time had passed for her, she had changed too: less joy shone from her comet-blue eyes. He had thought he was over her, would never see her again. But one look at those eyes was enough to send his heart free-falling.

Mon-El knew he’d be leaving again, which should have made it easier to hide his feelings. That wasn’t the case; several times he came close to opening up to Kara. (He was pretty sure that J’onn had him figured out, but the Martian never said anything.) Mon-El settled for a stiff, formal goodbye, pouring his affection into the last look he gave Kara as he tossed her his Legion ring and walked away.

Bringing himself back to the present, Mon-El sighed.

_Now what?_

Since returning to the future he’d pushed his feelings for Kara to the back of his mind again. After his conversation with Winn he couldn’t think of anything else. A part of him rejoiced in the idea that there was a timeline in which he and Kara had been together. But Winn’s description made it clear that their joy had come with a lot of pain. 

So, what to do? Go back and see Kara, find out how she feels? Let her be, with her memories of the joy and the pain, and hope no one ever tells her it went differently? 

It was clear that sleep wasn’t going to happen tonight. He might as well go into the Legion control center: surely there was something he could do that would be more useful than chasing his own thoughts.

* * *

Imra was covering the night watch at Legion HQ. Everything was very quiet—even Brainiac seemed to be taking the night off. She was surprised to see Mon-El slip into the room when there was no reason for him to be there.

“Mon-El, what are you doing here? You had a long day with that training exercise; I thought you’d be exhausted.”

“Couldn’t sleep.” His eyes were hollowed when she got a glimpse of his face.

“What’s wrong?”

He paced back and forth across the dimly-lit room. “Winn told me about Crisis and the changes. You, and me, and Kara.. I don’t know what to think, or what to do.”

“What do you mean, what to do?”

He turned from staring out the window to look at Imra, distractedly scratching his jaw. “Should I go and see her?” he asked, as if it wasn’t obvious.

“Winn said that she doesn’t even know things were different between you. How would she feel to find out that you don’t remember being together? Isn’t there a quote something like ‘better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all’?”

“Sounds like something Kara would say,” his eyes brightened a bit saying her name, “although not necessarily something she’d believe.” He was silent for a long moment. “Speaking of Winn, he said that you didn’t want to tell me about all of this. Why?”

“I was worried it might just re-open old wounds,” she said gently, sitting down at one of the consoles.

“What old wounds?” He eased himself into the opposite chair.

“Yours. Mon-El, I know you cared for Kara then and you still do now. I wasn’t sure it was fair to tell you that the timeline you remember isn’t the only possibility.”

He shook his head. “That’s what I get for having a telepath for a partner. “You weren’t worried about me finding out that we were married?” he asked, smiling slightly.

“We’ve been partners for a long time,” Imra replied, tranquilly. “I’m happy with Garth but if getting married to preserve the peace were necessary, I’m sure you’d be a good husband. Were a good husband. Would have been a good husband.” She grimaced. “This language still doesn’t have the right words to deal with branching timelines and time travel.”

Mon-El chuckled softly. “You’re right about that.” He glanced at Imra from under a furrowed brow. “Is the timeline another reason you didn’t want to tell me? Worried that I’d go back to see her and somehow.. mess things up?”

She rubbed her forehead, not meeting his eyes. “It _is_ a risk. You know that. When we went back last time, we prevented the Blight, but we also got Brainiac and had to leave Brainy behind.”

“And gained Winn. Who has been a great asset to the Legion. And the Legion’s been pretty good for him too,” Mon-El responded.

“I know. And I also know that you grew up on a planet with a god of fate—“

“Goddess,” he corrected.

“—so maybe you unconsciously believe everything will work out. I don’t have that faith.”

Mon-El stood up, his expression settling into resolve. “This is not about faith: mine or yours or anyone else’s. It’s about truth—the thing that matters to Kara more than anything else. She deserves to know the truth about what happened, since no one else seems willing to tell her that. And about how I feel about her, since no one else can tell her that.”

“You seem sure about this,” she said, diffidently.

“I am now. Imra, we’ve worked together for a long time, made lots of decisions together. This one is mine and I’m asking you to support it.”

“I don’t think this is a good idea. But you have to do what you have to do.”

“Thanks,” he said, curtly, as he headed for the door. 

Imra watched him leave, a worried look on her face.

* * *

Winn was working in his lab at Legion HQ, muttering to himself as he puzzled over a particularly complex design. He was concentrating hard enough that he didn’t notice the bearded face appearing in the doorway. Noticing Winn’s focus, Mon-El quietly slipped into the room and leaned against the wall.

Winn continued to scribble and mumble for a few more moments before looking up to rest his eyes. He caught sight of Mon-El and let out a yelp.

“Ai! How long have you been there? Don’t _do_ that to me, man!”

Mon-El chuckled and came over to stand next to Winn. “It’s just so much fun. What are you working on?”

Winn launched into an animated explanation of his latest idea, a new type of communications device that he said couldn’t be jammed or traced.

“Cool,” was Mon-El’s distracted response.

Winn reined in his enthusiasm long enough to look his friend in the eye. “How are you doing? Last night was .. a lot to take in. Credit to you that you didn’t throw up.”

“What?”

“Never mind. Really, how are you?”

Mon-El sighed. “Okay. I decided that I have to go and see Kara. Imra doesn’t think it’s a good idea—I get why she didn’t want you to tell me about all this.” he said.

“I knew it! I think that’s the right choice,” Winn responded. “So when are you going to go?”

“As soon as I can wrap a couple of things up here. No sense waiting,” Mon-El said.

Winn’s reply was interrupted by a low-pitched chime sounding as a blue light began to flash near the ceiling. Both men’s heads snapped up; they rushed through the door and down the hallway to the control center.

They entered the room to find it buzzing with activity. Without turning to face them, Imra said “Mon-El, Winn, you’re here, good.” 

“What’s going on?” Mon-El asked.

“Something’s wrong with the energy output of the Sun,” Garth reported.

“That’s… bad,” Mon-El responded.

“The magnetic dynamo at its core seems to be shutting down,” Tinya added.

“That’s...very bad,” Winn replied. “Without the Sun’s magnetic field to protect the solar system, we’re much more vulnerable to the cosmic rays that Betelgeuse emitted when it went supernova five hundred years ago.”

“This can’t be natural,” Mon-El said, worry on his face.

“Exactly,” Imra said. “Can you two take the cruiser to get a closer look?” Her eyes locked with Mon-El’s and he nodded.

“Let’s go.”

In minutes they were streaking toward the Sun at the Legion cruiser’s maximum speed, Mon-El piloting while Winn tried to make sense of the data from the sensor array.

“This doesn’t make sense. It looks like there’s a maximally-spinning black hole in orbit around the Sun, interior to Mercury’s orbit. The solar system doesn’t have any black holes. How did it get here?” Winn wondered.

“Never mind why it’s here, what’s it doing and what do we do about it?” Mon-El responded. 

“The magnetic field from the black hole is affecting the Sun’s magnetic dynamo and causing the solar magnetosphere to collapse. We need to shield the Sun from the black hole somehow,” Winn explained.

“Magnetic fields .. could Rokk’s powers do something?” Mon-El asked.

“Maybe, but he’s on a mission to Achernar, remember? There’s no way he could get back here in time. But what if we..”

“What?”

Winn snapped his fingers. “Moving charges make a magnetic field! We can cancel out the black hole’s field, if we charge the ship’s hull and orbit the black hole in exactly the right configuration,” he finished.

“Imra, are you getting all of this?” Mon-El said to the air.

“We copy, Mon-El,” she replied. “We’re recalling Rokk from Achernar; he’ll be here in 24 hours. Tinya’s checking Winn’s calculations. It looks like his plan will work, but you’ll need to be in an unstable orbit, very close to the event horizon. Any deviation from the orbit and you’ll fall in.”

“What choice do we have?” Mon-El responded. He and Winn exchanged glances.

“Let’s go.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The identity reveal has been a major theme in S5, so here’s a different spin on it. And, sorry Mxy, for “so much exposition”..


	4. Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mon-El and Winn try to tame the black hole; Kara tries to tame a divided heart.

“It’s working!”

In the bright, calm interior of the Legion ship’s bridge, Winn hammered at the sensor console. Mon-El looked over his shoulder with concern.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. It’s second-year physics. Well, some grad school too, for the relativistic orbit and stuff..”

Mon-El rolled his eyes. He looked away from Winn’s console to the exterior view screen and immediately regretted it. This close to a black hole, the radiation and warped spacetime combined to make the view a hellscape. The stomach-turning orbit the ship was following didn’t help.

“Imra, do you confirm?” he asked, ignoring Winn’s snort of derision behind him. 

“We do. The magnetic field cancellation is doing what we expected—“ “—told you—“ Winn interrupted “—and the solar magnetosphere is rebounding. Remember to keep an eye on the shielding. If the charge bleeds off, you won’t generate the field.”

“Got it,” Mon-El replied.

Winn glanced up from his console, looked outside, and winced the same way Mon-El had. “Yow.”

“No kidding.”

“We’re gonna be here a while. I’ve got this. If you want to rest for a bit, now might be a good time.”

Mon-El smirked as he sat down next to Winn. “I thought I was supposed to be the one with the powers here.”

“Good point. Okay, fine. You can keep me company. There’s not much to do except monitor, for now,” Winn replied.

The two Legionnaires sat in silence for a while, trying to ignore the hellscape outside the ship. Winn occasionally tapped at his console. Mon-El unconsciously fiddled with his Legion ring and began to whistle softly. 

Winn strained to catch the tune. “Is that..?”

“Bon Jovi,” Mon-El nodded. “Who Says You Can’t Go Home?”

“I didn’t know Daxamites could whistle.”

Mon-El scoffed. “Of course we can.”

“So what are you going to do .. when you go back?”

“First we have to get out of here,” was Mon-El’s immediate reply.

“We will. We always do. This is just a black hole,” Winn retorted.

“Yeah, and why is it here in the first place? There’s more going on here.”

“True, we do need to figure that out. But you’re avoiding the question.”

Mon-El was quiet for a moment as he scratched his jaw meditatively. 

“I don’t know. I mean, the different timelines… that’s a pretty strange place to start.”

“J’onn might be able to restore your memories, the way he did with mine. But do his abilities work on you? I know they didn’t for Kryptonians.”

“I don’t know.” Mon-El went quiet again. 

“Look, man. Regardless of what you remember, you’re going back because you care about Kara, right?”

“Right,” Mon-El agreed, looking down at his hands.

“So you just gotta tell her that. I can tell you that there is a timeline where you two clicked. I mean, honestly, you were embarrassing, it was like staring into the Sun. In nerd-speak we call that an ‘existence proof’. That’s where you start.”

“Thanks,” Mon-El gave his friend a small smile. “Speaking of staring into the Sun..”

Winn turned his attention back to the console. “All good. Wait, what’s that?”

“What?”

“Our external charge is building up. It’s messing up our magnetic field.”

“Can’t we just slow down to lower the field?”

“Not if you want to avoid falling into the black hole.” Winn’s tone was starting to sound nervous.

“Let me have a look at the auxiliary gravitic engine. Maybe I can figure out what’s going on,” Mon-El calmly stood and crossed the room to the diagnostic workstation. He tapped at the console, frowning at the results. “I can’t see anything wrong from here. I’ll go check it out up close,” he said.

“Make it quick. This is .. not good,” Winn said, the tone of his voice edging further toward panic. Mon-El quickened his steps toward the engine compartment.

Mon-El’s voice carried down the narrow corridor. “It’s overloading. We need some way to absorb the excess energy.”

“We could cross-connect it to the secondary.”

“That’ll just short it out.”

“What about the neutrino emitter?”

“Doesn’t help with the charge.”

“Right,” Winn rubbed his forehead. “Think, Winn.”

“Got it! I can absorb the electricity,” Mon-El called from the engine compartment.

“But you don’t have any control over that. It could kill you!” Winn objected.

“Do you have a better idea? We’re running out of time.”

“No, but..” Winn’s next words were drowned out by the sound of a body falling. He rushed down the corridor to find Mon-El on the floor, unconscious but still breathing, gripping the engine power leads tightly in his hands. Winn ran back to the bridge. The external charge buildup had stopped and the magnetic field had stabilized. They were safe, for the moment.

“Imra, we have a bigger problem.”

* * *

The Legion’s senior members convened in their command center, the conversation going around in circles. Their voices were growing louder and Imra struggled to help the group focus. Everyone knew that something had to be done, but none of their ideas seemed to be feasible.

“I could take over for Mon-El,” Garth suggested.

“We can’t get another ship close enough for you to board,” Imra responded.

“Can’t we get Rokk back here faster? Just have him jump back a few hours?” Tinya asked.

“Our time-jumping doesn’t have that kind of precision, especially not that close to a black hole. He could end up inside the event horizon, or two weeks too late.”

“We’ve got to come up with something. Mon-El can’t last twelve more hours like this.”

“What about Superman, or Supergirl? They both did the ‘turn back time’ trick more than once. That could work. And the radiation near the black hole wouldn’t affect Kryptonians.”

“Supergirl,” Imra decided. “Mon-El made her a Legionnaire, after all. I’ll go and ask her to come.”

* * *

Brainy was the first to notice another Legion ship appearing in the skies over twenty-first century National City. _Was Winn back already? Hadn’t they agreed to limit contact, to reduce the chance of timeline contamination?_ He made a swift decision to attempt to keep this latest visitor away from Lex Luthor’s attention, deleting the ship from the DEO’s tracking logs and transmitting landing coordinates well outside the city. 

The ship came to a halt in the desert near the DEO cave facility. Brainy was there to meet it, looking slightly surprised when Imra stepped out of the hatch.

“Imra,” was his flat greeting. “This is .. unexpected.”

“It’s good to see you, Brainy,” she replied, seemingly not noticing his lack of affect. “Winn told us that you’d been doing very well here.”

“I have .. made some contributions to the DEO,” Brainy responded.

“And you’ve made some other changes as well,” Imra said, now appearing to take stock of his changed manner.

“Yes. But I expect you did not come here only to discuss my personality inhibitors,” he said.

“You’re right. I came because we need Supergirl’s help. Mon-El and Winn are in danger and she’s the only one we can think of who can do what’s needed.”

Brainy looked thoughtful.

“As you know, Supergirl does not usually hesitate to render assistance. However, there may be complications. I calculate a 76% probability that she will not immediately agree to your request. I’ll ask her to meet us at the Tower.”

* * *

Kara landed on the Tower balcony at sunset, the wind rustling her cape and hair. Astonishment registered on her face as she saw who was waiting: Imra Ardeen was not someone she had ever expected to see again. She was standing next to J’onn, the two of them apparently perfectly at ease.

Imra started to speak. Her words barely registered with Kara as she struggled to contain the emotions that Imra’s appearance brought. She was over Mon-El, wasn’t she? And even if not, he was still married to Imra. But Mon-El’s wife seemed to feel no awkwardness about speaking with Kara, making what seemed to be a huge request.

“.. so we think you could fly around the black hole quickly enough to slow its rotation.” 

“Wow,” was Kara’s response. “I mean, I know you wouldn’t have asked if you didn’t need help, but .. going to the future. What about contaminating the timeline? Who would protect National City from Leviathan?”

“Me, for one,” J’onn interrupted. “And Dreamer and Alex. Even the other heroes of Earth Prime, if we need them. Don’t forget, time travel means you can come back just after you leave. And even if for some reason you don’t.. we can hold the fort here.”

“I understand that it’s a big ask,” Imra said. “Believe me, we take contamination of the timeline seriously. But we really do need your help.”

“Can I think about it for a bit?” Kara asked.

“Of course. I’ll just catch up with Brainy,” Imra responded. She left the Tower balcony to look for Brainy inside. Kara remained outside with J’onn. She looked up at the darkening sky, not sure what she was searching for.

“I don’t completely trust her, J’onn,” Kara blurted out. “She betrayed Mon-El when she brought him back here without telling him what was really going on. Yes, she came back to help us with Reign, but ... I can’t help feeling like she has something else up her sleeve.”

“And..” J’onn prompted.

Twisting her hands together, Kara looked down at them. “And I thought I’d never see her, or Mon-El, again. Going there.. seeing them together.. I don’t know if I can do it.”

J’onn didn’t take long to respond. “Assuming Imra is telling the truth, nobody will be seeing them together if Mon-El and Winn don’t get out from around that black hole. Kara, you’ve never let your feelings get in the way of doing what you had to do.”

“You’re right. It’s just.. after all this business with Lena, it’s harder to trust people. And I hate that,” she replied. “Is there some way you can find out if she’s being honest with us?”

“My psychic abilities don’t work on telepaths,” J’onn responded without thinking.

“I thought she was telekinetic?” Kara asked.

“She used to be. But the effects of Crisis were far-reaching. There are likely ripples into the future and I suspect we haven’t seen the extent of even the present-day changes,” J’onn responded, a serious tone in his voice.

“Oh! I hadn’t thought of that. Winn didn’t mention anything while he was here.”

“You were pretty busy.” J’onn reminded her.

“Yeah. Well. I need to talk to Alex,” Kara turned to go.

“I think she’s in the lab,” he replied.

Kara did a double-take. “The Tower has a lab? Of course it does!” She laughed softly as she went to look for Alex.

* * *

Spotlit from overhead in the darkened Tower lab, Alex tinkered with an auto-injector (“faster-acting knockout drug,” she explained). Kara poured out her worries.

For all that the conversation was somewhat one-sided, Kara didn’t find it much more satisfying than the one with J’onn. When she could get a word in edgewise from Kara’s torrent of doubt, Alex repeated most of the same points J’onn had made.

“It’s not like you to be so hesitant about helping someone, and this is not just anyone, it’s Winn and Mon-El. We can handle things here,” Alex insisted. “I really think you should go.”

“I know, I know. I just get the sense that there’s something she’s not telling me,” Kara replied.

“Could be future stuff. Timelines and whatnot, you know.”

“It sounds like there’s something _you’re_ not telling me.”

“Hello Ms. Catco reporter, I am not one of your interview subjects,” Alex said, a touch of scorn in her voice. “I am your big sister, giving you advice. I want you to think about this. Why are you so reluctant to go?”

Kara scrunched up her face. “Now you sound like .. when you told me I should think about how I felt about Mon-El.”

Innocent look on her face, Alex said nothing as she returned her attention to the device she was fixing. Kara left the room, brow still furrowed.

* * *

Kara went back to the balcony to find J’onn still there, now conversing with Imra.

“..to see her,” Imra finished as Kara approached, looking thoughtful. 

“To see who?” Kara asked.

“To see you, Kara. I came back to see you and ask you to come and help us rescue Winn and Mon-El,” Imra quickly replied.

Kara took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “You’re sure you can get me back here without a time gap? And the future timeline will be okay?”

“I’m sure,” Imra reassured her.

“Then let’s go.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	5. Rescues and truths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After rescuing Winn and Mon-El, Kara gets glimpses of the future and a different past.

_“Oh Rao_ ,” Kara breathed.

Imra’s ship had skipped back into the third-first century a few hundred kilometres from the black hole. Kara’s view outside showed the same warped spacetime and radiation-seared hellscape that had so unsettled Winn and Mon-El. She could just make out their ship skimming the event horizon, but no details were visible.

Imra was tapping at her command console, trying to make contact with Winn and with Legion headquarters. The ship’s comms seemed to be having trouble breaking through the interference caused by the intersecting magnetic fields of the black hole and the other ship.

“Grife!” Imra exclaimed.

“What is it?” Kara pivoted from the viewport to face the other woman.

“The time jump was a little off. We’re ten hours later than I wanted to be.” 

“So Winn and Mon-El have been down there on their own for ...”

“Nearly twelve hours,” was Imra’s grim reply. “Mon-El will be getting close to the limit of the electricity he can absorb.”

Kara’s voice and expression were steel. “What do I need to do?”

“You’ll need to fly in an orbit perpendicular to their ship, with the same period. The frame-dragging will slow the black hole’s spin and reduce its magnetic field. You’ll have to avoid the ship—you’ll come very close to it twice each in each orbit.”

“Got it.”

“You’ve got your Legion ring so you can breathe?”

Kara nodded. She rose and strode to the airlock, sliding the ring onto her finger and wearing a look of fierce determination.

“Comms check.”

Kara tapped her ear and nodded again.

“Opening airlock inner door.”

Kara stepped into the airlock and activated the ring. The inner door closed. Imra’s voice sounded in her ear. “Depressurizing in three.. two.. one.”

The outer door opened. Kara leapt into space, crossing the distance to the other ship in a few seconds. She watched the ship, carefully timing its orbit of the black hole, then arced into her own orbit. She couldn’t get a good look at the ship despite encountering it every few milliseconds: avoiding a collision at these velocities took all of her concentration. She suddenly became aware of Imra’s voice in her ear.

“Supergirl! Your orbit is perfect, but it’s in the wrong direction! You’re _increasing_ the black hole’s spin!”

Kara reversed course, screaming with the effort: it took every bit of her strength to stop her motion and then reverse it. Winn and Mon-El’s ship caught up to her and loomed dangerously close. She caught a brief glimpse of a scorched hull and strained-looking electric field. Her heart sank. Her jaw clenched.

_Just... a ... bit... more_. There! She was back in the proper orbit, this time in the right direction.

“Imra, have you made contact? Are they okay?”

Her comms were silent. 

“Imra!” Kara wailed, fear for Mon-El and Winn racing through her body.

A weak, staticky response finally came. “.. I’ve got them. They’re okay. Their comm frequency is too redshifted for you to pick up.”

Kara relaxed slightly, exhaling. She came uncomfortably close to colliding with the ship on her next orbit. _Focus._

“Rokk will be here in half an hour,” Imra’s voice filtered through her comms. “Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

Kara tried not to think about how many more times she would fly around the black hole in half an hour. Patience wasn’t exactly her strong suit. _One at a time. One at a time._ She eased into the rhythm of her orbit and began to feel a sort of calm, as if she could do this forever. 

Was that another ship in the distance? 

“Supergirl!” her comms crackled. “Garth and Rokk are here and ready to take over. You need to slowly move away from the black hole, at the same rate as Winn.”

“Copy,” Kara replied. The newly-arrived ship established its own orbit of the black hole. She watched Winn and Mon-El’s ship start to move away from the event horizon and timed her own movement to match. Suddenly, their ship lurched and started to fall back towards the black hole, its external electric field failing. Kara streaked toward the ship, matched orbits, and added her strength to the thrust of its engines. She screamed with the effort of pushing it out of the black hole’s gravity well. _Just ... keep ... going..._

Finally she could feel the strength of the gravitational field diminish as she and the ship gained enough distance from the black hole. Her comms crackled to life once more.

“Kara?” Winn’s voice, garbled and weak. But unmistakable.

“I’m here!” she cried.

“We made it!” he exclaimed.

“Yes you did,” Imra broke in. “I’m bringing you in to dock with my ship. Thank you, Supergirl.”

* * *

Once the two ships were docked and the autopilot engaged, Kara and Imra rushed through the airlock. They found Mon-El and Winn on the floor in the engine compartment, the former regaining consciousness and the latter on the verge of losing it.

“I’m glad you’re both still with us,” Imra said briskly. “You took a lot of radiation. Winn, we need to get you to the medbay.”

“That is an excellent idea,” Winn responded, somewhat groggily. Imra helped him up and took him out of the room with just a quick backward glance to assure herself that Mon-El was all right. Kara looked at Imra’s retreating form, then back at Mon-El. She knelt to support him as he pulled himself up to sit, grimacing. His expression lifted at the sight of Kara, then grew more serious as he registered the confusion on her face. 

“Thank you, Kara,” Mon-El said heavily. “It’s so good to see you. And obviously no one told you,” he added, nodding in the direction Imra and Winn had gone.

“Told me what?”

He spoke slowly, deliberately. “The timeline changed. It’s not what you remember. Imra and I aren’t married, never were. We’re co-leaders of the Legion. That’s all.”

Kara’s face mixed relief with panic. The ache she’d felt at the prospect of never seeing Mon-El again was only bearable with the knowledge that he was unavailable, partnered with someone else. Now that knowledge no longer applied, and the walls she’d carefully built around her heart crumbled. The Girl of Steel was used to mastering her emotions in the heat of battle and the midst of danger. But Kara Zor-El couldn’t stop herself from breaking into tears. She sat down next to Mon-El and buried her head in his shoulder, sobbing with the release of so many years’ worth of tension and loneliness.

Mon-El tentatively brought a hand up to stroke Kara’s back as she clung to him. How many times had he imagined holding her in his arms? He’d pulled her out of danger when they fought against Reign, hugged her when they said goodbye. But this was different. She remembered more … intimate times between them. He didn’t.

He couldn’t think of what to say to her as the torrent continued to flow. A few tears stung his own eyes: empathy for the distress she was feeling, sorrow for the opportunities he’d missed. And maybe, just maybe — tentative joy that there was a chance to start again. But that required that he bring all his courage and strength to telling her the truth.

He wiped his eyes with his free hand and took a deep breath.

Finally Kara’s tears stopped and her breathing slowed. Mon-El took her shoulders and gently lifted her away from him so that he could look into her eyes. 

“You okay?” His voice was gentle with concern.

“Sorry,” she sniffled. “Everything just hit me all at once. I never thought I’d see you again and I’m so glad you’re okay and you’re not married to Imra and..” She stopped as a realization hit her. “But are you married to someone else? Do you have a partner? I can’t believe Winn didn’t tell me!”

Mon-El chuckled softly. “No partner.” His voice lowered. “It’s always been you, Kara.”

Her eyes widened at his words. “There’s more I have to tell you.”

“What is it?” she asked, her hand coming up to stroke his cheek. He had to resist the twin urges to sigh at the gentleness of her touch and moan at the electricity that shot through him.

“In this timeline…” his voice cracked and he started again. “In this timeline, you and I were never together. I never told you how I felt about you.”

Kara pulled her hand back and stared at him in shock.

Mon-El continued, afraid of losing momentum. “I started falling for you...right after you stopped hating me for being a Daxamite. After Cadmus kidnapped me and then I told you I was the prince, you were so angry with me. I never quite got the courage to tell you I was in love with you. And then I had to leave, and I came back, and...it never seemed to be the right time.”

The words were spilling out of him. Was he even making sense? He had to keep going. Kara’s eyes hadn’t left his face. Her face had lost its shocked expression and was now carefully neutral. She moved the hand that had been on his cheek and placed it lightly on top of his hand.

“I know it’s been a long time for you and even longer for me. I know you’ve probably moved on. I am still in love with you, Kara. I’m not expecting you to return my feelings. But I had to tell you. I was about to leave to come and see you when the black hole thing happened.”

He searched her face for a reaction. She was keeping her feelings to herself, or perhaps just had little left to react with after the storm that had passed through her.

“Thank you,” were her first words. “That was really brave. You’ve shown me your courage so many times, but … wow.” She squeezed his hand.

He held his breath. Was she now going to let him down easy?

But the next expression to cross her face was .. annoyance?

“Was anyone going to tell me about this? I mean, obviously you just did. But... J’onn, Alex — they must have known.”

He chuckled nervously. “I don’t know. I had to wring it out of Winn.”

She returned his nervous laugh. “I can totally see that happening.”

Now it was Kara’s turn to take a deep breath. “This ... is a lot to take in. I mean, coming here was already a lot to take in but this..” she gestured between them. 

He nodded and moved his hand to squeeze hers. “I understand. Thank you. For listening. And, you know, coming to rescue us from certain death,” he joked.

“Every time,” she smiled. “Should we go and see how Winn is doing?”

He returned the smile, stood and pulled her to her feet. She held his hand for the first few steps down the corridor toward the medbay.

* * *

Back on Earth, Kara tapped her foot impatiently as the Legion medic finished checking Winn over. Mon-El had disappeared with Imra. _Giving her some space?_

She hadn’t imagined that whole discussion on the ship, had she?

“You’re good to go,” the medic said to Winn. “I’ll need you to come back in a couple of weeks for a follow-up, okay?”

“No problem. Thanks,” Winn responded. He hopped off the exam table.

Distracting herself from thinking about more important things, Kara marveled at how doctors’ bedside manner and exam rooms seemed not to have changed in a thousand years. What else was different, or wasn’t, here?

Winn noticed her zoning out. “Earth to Supergirl,” he teased. 

“Didn’t we just do that?” she responded.

“I guess we did,” he allowed. “Come on, we’re going home. After saving the world we get the rest of the day off, and I want you to meet Ayla and Mary.”

“That sounds great.” She let herself smile.

Someone at Legion HQ found Kara some civilian clothes—she didn’t need to hide her identity here, but walking around in her Supergirl suit still felt like it might be a little conspicuous. Winn led the way out of the building. They began to walk down a tree-lined street that seemed a lot less futuristic than Kara expected. The sky was grey and the wind whipped through their hair. Kara didn’t feel cold, of course, but somehow she had always thought of the future as being bright and sunny.

“Are you feeling okay?” she queried, looking at him closely.

“A little queasy but I’m told it’ll pass,” he replied. “What about you?” he asked, noticing the slight dark circles under her eyes.

“A lot has happened. I’m still trying to take it all in. So... you didn’t tell me about Mon-El,” she began.

Winn threw his hands up defensively. “Hey, to be fair, you didn’t ask about him.”

She sighed. “You’re right. I don’t know why I didn’t. Thank you for telling him; he said he was on his way to see me when the black hole thing happened.”

“Yup. Well, he didn’t give me much choice.”

Winn led Kara around a corner, slowing down as he turned to face her.

“So, you guys had a good talk. What are you going to do now?”

Kara sighed again. “I don’t know. I never thought I’d see him again, and now he’s not married, which is good, but he doesn’t remember being together, which is not good, and ...it’s all so confusing. I thought Lex Luthor being a good guy was weird, but this is way worse...” her voice rose in pitch as she trailed off.

“Hey,” Winn said in a soothing tone. “It’s okay. You don’t have to make any decisions right this second. Except ...”

“Except what?”

“Except how do you feel about having your hair braided, because we’re almost home and that’s the first thing that Mary wants to do with any new, long-haired person she meets,” Winn explained.

Kara laughed for the first time since arriving in the future. “I think I can handle that.”

* * *

Mary and “auntie Kara” got along famously. After being reassured that it was okay with Kara, Mary’s mother helped with the braiding so that Kara’s hair didn’t become a completely tangled mess. Ayla chatted with Kara, making her feel like a family friend being welcomed and not at all like some kind of mythical hero from a millennium ago. Winn enjoyed the sound of the three of them giggling together. He puttered in the kitchen, assembling dinner and tossing out a few embarrassing stories that made Kara’s forehead crinkle and her cheeks blush.

The door chime sounded. Mary ran to the door; Ayla touched a button on her bracelet and the door swung open to reveal—

“Unc’ Mon!” Mary shouted, running towards Mon-El. He scooped the little girl up and twirled her in a circle, big grins on both their faces. Kara couldn’t stop her own matching grin at the sight of the two of them. Winn and Ayla both noticed Kara’s expression and shared a meaningful look.

“It’s great to see you, sweetie,” Mon-El said to Mary, tickling her as he gently set her down. “Can I talk to auntie Kara, please?”

Mary took Mon-El’s hand and led him over to Kara, eager to show off her braiding skills. He greeted Ayla and solemnly agreed with Mary that Kara’s hair looked pretty. 

“Mary, let’s go help Daddy, sweetie,” said Ayla as she picked her daughter up and carried her over to the kitchen.

Left with a little more privacy, Kara and Mon-El sat on the couch. The silence between them stretched awkwardly for what seemed like hours but was in reality only a few seconds.

Finally Mon-El broke it. “Imra sends her apologies—she was ready to take you back whenever you want, but she got caught up in a diplomatic wrangle that couldn’t wait. She’ll be available in the morning. We have plenty of room for you in the Legion’s guest quarters.”

Kara nodded.

“In the meantime, can I show you around a bit? If your hair stylist is done with you, that is,” he grinned, indicating Mary. She was standing on a chair in front of the sink, enthusiastically splashing soapy water.

Kara smiled. “I’d like that. And yes, I think my hair is done.” She patted her braid, checking that it wasn’t too crooked. Mon-El’s hands twitched—she could almost see him offering to help and deciding not to. 

Kara stood and crossed the room to hug Winn, Ayla, and Mary. “It was nice to meet you both. Winn is lucky to have you,” she said to Ayla.

“We’re lucky too. Thank you for coming to the rescue,” Ayla responded, putting a hand on her husband’s shoulder. “It was wonderful to meet you, Kara. I feel like I already knew you from all of Winn’s stories, but he didn’t do you justice.” Kara blushed.

Winn looked at Mon-El and then at Kara. “I’ll see you before you go?” he asked her.

“Of course,” she replied, not meeting his eyes.

“Then you might want to get out of here — dinner time gets pretty messy,” he joked.

“Yes, dad,” Kara agreed. 

Mon-El chuckled and led Kara to the door. “Bye Mary!” he called to the girl.

“Bye bye unc’ Mon! Auntie Kara!” Mary waved a soapy hand.

Kara waved to the family and followed Mon-El out.

* * *

They strolled down the tree-lined street, mostly deserted as the weather worsened. Kara was grateful for the braid that kept her hair from snarling in the wind.

“Are you feeling okay?” Mon-El asked her, concern showing on his face. “You worked pretty hard up there.”

“I’m fine,” she smiled. “I should ask you the same question: you took a lot of electricity.” 

He flushed and ran a hand through his now wind-blown hair. “Just a little jumpy.”

“So… what did you want to show me?” Kara asked. She wasn’t quite ready to resume their conversation from the ship.

His lips curled up in a grin. “Well, I thought we’d start with the Supergirl statue on the waterfront, then hit the Superfriends museum, maybe finish up at Fortress-of-Solitude-Land?”

“Get out,” Kara laughed as she punched him lightly on the bicep.d

“Ow! I nearly forgot how strong you are,” he teased.

“Sure you did,” she replied with a grin. “The waterfront sounds fine.”

They strolled toward future National City’s waterfront, Kara looking around as Mon-El pointed out sights along the way. Their hands or shoulders occasionally touched as they walked. Neither tried to pull away. Kara noticed how much more relaxed Mon-El seemed than when she had seen him at the DEO, before he left. She wished the same was true for her. _Home territory, I guess. Or maybe just a burden lifted.._

They arrived at the waterfront and found a bench to sit on. Kara was grateful that there was no Supergirl statue in sight.

“So..” Kara began, “you said that you told me you were the prince after we escaped from Cadmus?”

“Yeah. How do you remember it?” He scratched his jaw.

“We found out when your parents showed up. I was so angry that you had lied to me that I broke up with you. It took a fifth-dimensional being who put us in an alternate reality that was a musical to get us back together,” she explained. “In retrospect that sounds kind of ridiculous.”

“No more ridiculous than a boy from Daxam and a girl from Krypton working together, I guess,” he chuckled. “But really—a musical? Like _West Side Story_?” 

She nodded. “Of course that was after the other fifth-dimensional imp, Mxzyptlk, showed up and tried to make me marry him. You were so jealous. Right after we got rid of him... that’s when you and I got together.”

She went on, “Before that, it took me a while to figure out what to do after you made it clear you liked me. Looking back, I realized that I kind of yanked your chain while I made up my mind. I’m sorry.”

“No apology necessary.” Mon-El looked out to sea, facing away from Kara. He paused for a moment. “And what happened when we came back from the future?”

“Well, it had only been a few months for me, but years for you. You were married to Imra and I had a hard time dealing with that. It seemed like you still had some feelings for me,” — he nodded — “but you didn’t really say anything. And then you had to leave again,” she sniffled a bit, “and now I’m just alone.”

“Hey.” He turned to look at her. “You’re not alone. Lots of people love you.”

“You know what I mean.”

He sighed. “Yeah. I do.” He slid closer to her on the bench and took her hand. Both of them shuddered with the feeling of sparks between them. _Maybe he was still storing the electricity from the ship?_

“Mon-El, I can’t tell you what it means to see you again. To know you’re safe and well. To hear you say that you still have feelings for me.”

She pounded the bench in frustration (it only cracked a little bit). “I’m a journalist! I use words for a living! You’d think I’d be better at expressing myself, but what I feel for you is.. just..”

She didn’t have to say it. He looked in her eyes and it was right there.

Mon-El reached out and tucked a lock of hair behind Kara’s ear. He leaned toward her, ever so slowly. Their eyes closed as their lips met.

It was more than a bit of a cliche, especially for two people who had been in the neighbourhood of a black hole not so long ago, but time seemed to slow down. Even as their hearts pounded and skin tingled, they melted into one another in the gentlest way imaginable.

When they broke for air, she leaned back and smiled. “Are you sure you don’t have your memories of the other timeline? Because that was _exactly_ like the first kiss I remember.”

The grin on his face didn’t quite match the husky tone of his voice. “I would have remembered. Kara, I have wanted to do that for so long. You have no idea.”

“I think I do.” She turned her body to face the water again and rested her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her. They sat contentedly for a few moments, until he pulled her in to him again. “What about the second kiss?” he whispered, his lips next to her ear.

Her smile grew slowly until it seemed to light up the whole night sky. “We might need to go somewhere a bit more private.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Several branches of physics were harmed in the writing of this chapter. I regret nothing.


	6. Branching points

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Decisions are made, and re-made.

Dawn found Mon-El and Kara on the roof at Legion headquarters, watching the sunrise. The dark clouds had blown out overnight, leaving the promise of a bright, beautiful day.

She leaned over the parapet and eased herself down onto her elbows, looking over the city. He drew close and matched her stance. Both of them could feel skin tingle where their hands touched.

Kara traced the outline of his face with her eyes. His calm expression belied the turmoil she could see in his grey eyes. He was so much more stoic, so much sadder, than the younger man who had landed at her feet a few years ago. And yet, some of the weight that he’d carried in his return to the twenty-first century wasn’t on his shoulders here. She thought about seeing him with Mary yesterday, the effortless joy on both their faces.

She wanted to see that joy again. The morning brought clarity to what had barely been an idea last night. She  _ knew_ .

Kara took a deep breath and faced Mon-El.

“I could stay,” she said quietly.

She could hear his heartbeat accelerate. He inhaled sharply. 

“Kara, I couldn’t ask you to do that. You have National City to protect, your family: Alex, Eliza..” he replied, sadly.

“You’re not asking. I’m asking if I can be part of your family here. If  _ we_ could have our own family here.” 

“Kara, I..” he trailed off. She could see the conflict in his face: the serious, practical Legion leader and the hopeful, romantic space puppy. The man who had said he loved her for the first time both yesterday and a decade ago. That love was there in his eyes.. warring with apprehension? Hope?

His voice was low, tentative. “Are you sure? We both have worlds to save.” 

Kara didn’t feel the conflict she could see in Mon-El’s expression. Finally,  _ finally _ she was sure about what she wanted and how to bring the different parts of her life together. She smiled and said, “Looks to me like there’s plenty of saving to do here, if the Legion will have me. And after the multiverse restarted, there are a lot more heroes available to save National City than there used to be.” 

He looked down at his hands, searching for the right words. 

“Kara, I want you to be happy. I know I don’t deserve you, but..” Tears welled in his eyes. “I love you, Kara.” 

She gently cupped his jaw, lifting his face to hers. “What do you mean you don’t deserve me? You have such a big heart, the way you care for people, look after everyone in the Legion. You deserve to be happy, Mon-El. I want to make you happy. I  _ know _ you make me happy. I love you.”

“That sounds like you’re sure.” His voice was choked with emotion; he was struggling to hold on to his composure.

“I’m sure. Come here.” She gathered him into her arms. Now it was his turn to let go of years’ worth of ‘what if’s,‘might have been’s, loneliness and yearning. His raspy sobs were quieter than hers had been, his tears less copious, but the storm of emotions was no less intense. She held him while it passed, stroking his back as he had hers. 

Kara stepped back, stood on her toes, and touched her forehead to Mon-El’s. “It’s okay,” she reassured him, remembering other times they had said those words to each other. He gave her a slightly watery smile and leaned in to kiss her. Kara returned the kiss, trying to pour all of her love and affection for this brave and faithful man into the press of her lips on his, the hold of her arms around his neck. She felt him start to relax into her embrace and, as the Sun climbed over the horizon, the world flooded with light.

* * *

They were sitting in a corner of the Legion’s dining hall, having discovered that even life-altering decisions didn’t completely quell Kara’s desire for breakfast. She was too distracted by Mon-El’s eyes on her face and his gentle hand on hers to really taste the food, but her stomach had at least stopped growling.

Imra crossed the room toward them. Kara’s stomach clenched a little. Yesterday there hadn’t been time to feel awkward with Imra. Today that feeling came rushing in. In her head she knew that it wasn’t that things were over between Mon-El and Imra — those things had never even started. But getting her heart convinced was another story.

Her head spun. Had it only been yesterday that Imra had come to the Tower to explain why Kara was needed and bring her back? The whole thing — not just the black hole orbits — was a blur. Was she really sitting here, in the future? With Mon-El? 

Imra sat down at the table, taking stock of the situation as she noticed Mon-El’s soft eyes and Kara’s faraway expression. Her manner was brisk, efficient and maybe just a little abrasive. “Good morning, Mon-El, Kara. Sorry I wasn’t available last night, but I can take you back whenever you’re ready.”

“She’s—“ Mon-El began. Kara interrupted him.

“Thanks, but that’s not necessary. I’m … going to stay here. If that’s okay.” 

“You..?” Imra’s forehead furrowed as she stared hard at Kara. 

“Imra!” Mon-El rebuked.

“Sorry. Bad habit. I should have known it wouldn’t work anyway.” 

She turned to look at Mon-El. He glared at her. She snorted. “I don’t even have to. It’s plain to see on your face.”

Imra’s voice and expression didn’t give anything away, leaving Kara and Mon-El waiting silently for her reaction. Finally, she spoke.

“I didn’t think it was a good idea for you to re-open old wounds. I didn’t want you to get hurt,” she said to Mon-El. Addressing Kara, she continued, “I’m concerned about what it means for the timeline for you to leave the twenty-first century, and how New Daxam might react to a Kryptonian joining the Legion.”

Imra continued, “But none of that matters. You both deserve to be happy. Welcome to the Legion, Supergirl.” She looked pleased. 

Kara held out her hand to shake Imra’s and was surprised when the other woman pulled her into a hug. 

“Thank you,” was all she could think of to say. She felt herself start to sniffle into Imra’s shoulder.

Imra let her go and said lightly, “Kara, I know you have different memories of me ... and Mon-El. It will take a while to adjust. Just be patient.” Mon-El shot a grateful glance at Imra and rested his hand on Kara’s shoulder. She reached up to squeeze it.

“I’m sure you two have a lot to talk about,” Imra said. “Mon-El, you’re off duty for the rest of the day. I’ll handle whatever comes up.” She rose and strode out of the room.

* * *

Somehow Kara and Mon-El found themselves back at the same waterfront bench as the previous night. This time they didn’t have the place to themselves, but they were so wrapped up in each other that it didn’t matter. The passers-by, some of whom must have known Mon-El, seemed to sense the couple’s preoccupation and kept their distance.

Mon-El alternated between running his fingers through his hair and fidgeting with his Legion ring. Kara could sense his lingering unease, like he couldn’t quite believe what had happened in the past twenty-four hours. She needed to reassure him that it  _ was _ real, because if he stopped believing in it—in her, in himself, that he deserved to be happy—then it  _ wouldn’t _ be real any more.

She wrapped her small hands around his larger ones. His hands were so warm. The electric tingle when their skin touched was still there.

“You should go back to say goodbye,” he said.

“But … time travel? I could be here for years and go back just after I left, right? They wouldn’t even know I’d been gone.”

“You’d know. Trust me, keeping your personal timeline ... untangled ... is important.” His face grew even more serious. “And it’s important for them. You know what kind of situations we get into. You might go on a mission and ... not come back.” 

She couldn’t match his worried expression. “I have every intention of coming back to you, every time,” she smiled.

“I know.” He squeezed her hand. “But we should still go.”

“ _ We _ ? I thought Imra was the time traveller around here?”

“After the Worldkillers, we changed the protocol so that only one of us at a time goes on that kind of mission. But I think it had better be me who faces J’onn and Alex and Eliza,” he replied, sounding resigned.

She laughed. “It’ll be fine. They’ll be glad to see you. Glad for  _ us_.”

He still looked dubious, but at least a little less worried.

* * *

They took one of the smaller Legion ships (“the larger ones are tied up with the black hole business”) for the trip back, meaning that they had to make the time jump from outside the atmosphere.

Winn insisted that they had to wear their caped super-suits for the trip—some inside joke that Kara didn’t quite get. She didn’t mind going along with his request: they owed him one. If it hadn’t been for him, this second chance might not have happened.

Sitting next to Mon-El in the small control room, Kara looked over at him with a small smile. She blurted, “This feels like when we went to Argo.”

“The first time, or the second?” He smiled back.

“So that part of the timeline didn’t change,” she surmised. “Someday we’ll have to compare notes and figure out the differences.”

“Or we could let the past go, and just worry about the future,” he suggested.

“Good point.” 

He didn’t say anything else and was clearly deep in thought. Eventually she reached over and tapped his shoulder. “Hey. Talk to me.”

He let out a slow breath. “When I was back in your time, and you decided to move to Argo … it didn’t stick.”

“Are … are you worried that me staying in the future won’t either?” 

“I want you to be happy, Kara. Giving up your home, again—it’s a big deal. I know. I mean, I didn’t have a choice, the first time I left you, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard.”

Now it was her turn to be quiet for a moment. She started to fidget with her sleeves. How could she help him see what was in her heart?

“After Winn left to come back here, Mxzyptlk came back,” she began.

“The imp who wanted to make you marry him?”

“That’s the one. But he was back for a different reason. He gave me a chance for a do-over with Lena, to reveal my identity to her earlier so that she wouldn’t hate me.”

“Wow. What happened?”

“Well, in one of those do-overs, you gave me some really good advice. And then I had to watch you die, which was awful. And then you were back, which was good. But no matter what I did, telling my secret earlier made everything worse.”

“And the lesson from this is?” He looked genuinely puzzled.

“We don’t always get do-overs, but we don’t always need them. I can’t go back, Mon-El. I can only go forward. Moving to Argo was me trying to go back to my past. Staying here ... to be with you ... that’s moving forward.”

His forehead unfurrowed and some of the tension left his frame.  _ There _ was that smile, the one she had missed so much. The answering smile appeared on her own face almost instantly.  _ She could get used to this. _

A warning sound from the console in front of him shattered their tranquility. 

“Sprock!” Mon-El exclaimed, as Kara asked “what is it?”

“Emergency alert from the Legion ships near the black hole. It’s changing orbit somehow. Heading out of the solar system on a hyperbolic trajectory.” He swiped index fingers across his console, frowning at the results.

“That’s good, isn’t it?”

“For the Sun, yes. But on this trajectory—” the colour drained from his face “— it’ll pass within five hundred kilometres of Earth.”

“Oh no.”

“The orbital habitats, the atmosphere ...” He didn’t have to finish.

“There has to be something we can do!”

“I—“ He was interrupted by a message from Rokk and Garth on the holographic display indicating their plan. They were chasing the black hole in their ship, Rokk generating a magnetic field designed to repel the black hole’s field and change its path. Garth was going to back him up with a series of electrostatic pulses.

“Is that going to work?”

“Maybe?” Mon-El scratched his beard. “I’m changing our course to intercept.”

Another window opened on the display, showing Winn’s face.

“Mon-El!” he exclaimed. “We can’t get through to Garth and Rokk. Do you know what they’re doing?”

“We just got a message, sending now,” Mon-El swiped his hand across the display.

On the screen, Winn’s face fell as he scanned the forwarded message. “That’s not going to work. Their orbit’s wrong. The magnetic repulsion won’t alter the trajectory enough and they could be killed.”

Imra’s face appeared. “Mon-El, Kara — we’re scrambling another cruiser to meet you. ETA eight minutes.”

Out the viewport, Kara could see the larger Legion ship as they closed the distance, the black hole and its distorted spacetime beyond. Mon-El was working the comms panel, trying to raise the other ship. “They’re not responding. This ship is too small to use a tractor beam this close to the black hole.”

“Kara, you can change their momentum, the way you did with us!” Winn exclaimed. “We’ll transmit the correct orbit to your ship and Mon-El can lead you in the right direction.”

“On it,” Kara and Mon-El replied, simultaneously. Despite the seriousness of the situation, they flashed grins at one another.

She stood and moved to the airlock, turning her head to look back at him.

“Be careful.” His face was calm but his eyes were full of worry. And love.

“Always,” she smiled.

Kara leapt into the void, crossing the gap to the other ship in a few minutes. She matched velocity with it and waited as Mon-El’s ship caught up and slowly began to veer off. She oriented herself on the other side of the Legion ship and began to push, using her strength to change its orbit.

“Keep going! It’s working!” Mon-El’s voice rang in her comms.

It  _ was _ working. She and the larger ship were following the smaller one, and she could see the black hole being repelled, in a direction that would have it safely miss the Earth.

Then, suddenly, it  _ wasn’t _ working. Kara felt a change in the vibrations transmitted through the ship. She looked over to see that one of its engines had failed. Mon-El’s ship was pulling away — no, she and the larger ship were falling behind.

“Kara!” Mon-El’s voice again, with just a hint of panic.

She forced her words out through gritted teeth. “Engine… failed…” 

“Kara!” She had no spare energy to answer him.

She added more strength, but it wasn’t enough. She could see the Legion ship was angling further off course. Worse, its magnetic field was weakening, letting it drift closer to the black hole and its radiation-laced hellscape.

_ Radiation...radiation pressure_! That was it! 

The bulk of the larger Legion ship was between Mon-El’s ship and Kara, so he couldn’t see her turn around, put her back to the ship, and use her heat vision to add to the thrust from her super-strength. He could see the effects, though: the other ship returned to the correct course.

“Kara!”  _ Why wasn’t she answering_?

His comms buzzed with a message from Garth and Rokk: they had sorted out a problem with their main antenna and finally received the frantic transmissions from Legion HQ. They were altering their course and adapting the magnetic repulsion to steer the black hole away from Earth.

Mon-El acknowledged the message even as he reversed course to get closer to the other ship and Kara. Matching velocities, he finally spotted her, floating limp and lifeless in the void.

_ He couldn’t lose her_.

Without conscious thought, Mon-El set the ship’s autopilot, activated his Legion ring, and leapt out the airlock. The few seconds it took to reach Kara were some of the longest of his life. He gathered her in his arms and triggered the ring’s flight mode to return to their ship. 

He hadn’t accounted for one factor: the changing magnetic fields around the other ship created currents that arced through both of them. His body took the brunt of the surge as he curled himself protectively around Kara. He passed out just as they fell inside their ship’s airlock.

* * *

Imra insisted that Kara and Mon-El’s time jump be postponed until they had been checked over. Sitting side-by-side on a bed in the larger Legion ship’s medbay, they waited, leaning on each other in weariness while Garth and Rokk got attention first. 

“Mon-El? That alternate universe where we ended up in a musical?”

“Yeah?”

“Music Meister — the being that put us in there— told us that ‘love is about letting yourself be saved.’”

He pulled her to him, resting her head on his shoulder. He cleared his throat as if to say something, then waved it off indicating that she should continue.

“When you first arrived on Earth, I thought you were the one who needed to be saved, but I was wrong. You saved me by showing me what true courage was, what it meant to completely change your life. When you came back, I thought you were going to save us from the Worldkillers. But in some ways we ended up saving Brainy, and the future, by sending you and Winn back.”

“And now?” Mon-El’s voice was low.

She lifted her head to look into his eyes. “Today we saved each other.” Her eyes shone with love and … were those tears? 

His heart was full. He fell into her gaze, trying to express a decade’s worth of love in the look he gave her. 

He swallowed and took her hands. “Stay with me? Be my partner … forever?”

“I will,” she breathed. Now the tears flowed in earnest, but they were tears of joy.

They embraced and the world fell away.


	7. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Mon-El look forward.

It was another bright, sunny day in thirty-first century National City. Mon-El finished up a conversation with Imra and nearly super-sped through the corridors of Legion headquarters to get to the med center where he was supposed to meet Kara. Like hospitals everywhere, it was a warren of dead-end hallways and confusing intersections, seemingly designed to make sure patients couldn’t escape or even show up early for appointments.

Gods knew, he’d spent enough time there, checking up on Legion members recovering from some mission or other. And last year when Kara and Imra had both been so badly hurt in another of the AIs’ attacks: his heart squeezed at the thought of those days and nights. 

The sound of Kara’s laugh eventually led him to her. He peeked through a door and found her sitting in a small room, looking at something on a screen with a bright green but otherwise humanoid-looking female with a medic’s badge. Mon-El didn’t recognize the woman, but the Legion was big enough that he didn’t find this surprising.

Kara had obviously heard him coming; she turned to face the doorway just as he appeared. “Hi, sweetie!”

The medic followed Kara’s gaze to Mon-El and rose to meet him, offering her hand to shake.

“Congratulations, Mon-El. I’m Larina, one of the midwives. I’ve only been here a few weeks — that’s probably why we haven’t met before.”

“Welcome to the Legion,” he responded, almost automatically. “We’re glad to have you join us.”

“Thanks. Supergirl—I mean Kara— is doing great. I’ll let her fill you in on the details. See you in a month or so.” Larina headed out the door.

Mon-El leaned in to give Kara a quick kiss as he sat down next to her. “Sorry I’m late.”

“That’s okay. You didn’t miss much. Some strange measurements. What to eat, when I have to stop flying, that sort of thing.”

“And everything’s okay?”

“Would you stop worrying? Everything’s fine. In fact…” she smiled as she indicated the screen she’d been looking at with the midwife, “... it’s twice as good as we were planning on.”

He looked at the image on the screen, at Kara, then back at the screen.

“Twins?”

Kara beamed. “I thought I heard two heartbeats, but I didn’t want to say anything until it was confirmed.”

“ _ Twins_?!”

“We’ve faced invasion fleets, Worldkillers, black holes, and evil AIs. We can handle two babies, Mon-El.”

She was so serene, so untroubled. And so happy. His heart was full.

He stroked her hair. “They’ll be so strong and brave. Just like you.”

“They’ll be so caring and wise. Just like you.”

Mon-El circled his arms around his wife and gave thanks to whatever god or goddess had brought them together. From different worlds, across space and time, now together for as long as the universe would let them. Which, if he had anything to say about it, would be forever.


End file.
